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Castle Review: Pick a Side

The latest Castle was all about who had the greatest "Need to Know" and who got left out in the cold. And the final results were not nearly what I expected.

Rick and Kate looked incredibly cozy laying in bed... hundreds of miles apart. How can these two still look so darn adorable even when they're not sharing the same space?!? Even their virtual kiss, which in lesser hands would have been nothing but cheesy, made me smile.

Unfortunately, Pi was still hanging around the loft. If he has such a talent for making smoothies, perhaps he should get a job. I loved Castle's disgust with his house guest, as he lamented to Martha in this Castle quote…

Half the time I don't know if I'm smelling our new compost bin or my daughter's rotting ambition. | permalink

Alexis does appear to be losing IQ points the longer Pi sticks around. But for the most part I agree with Martha. The more they fight it, the more Alexis will cling to her new boy toy like any other rebellious teenager. Eventually her better sense should kick in and send her freeloading boyfriend packing.

I just hope that moment is sooner rather than later. I'm not sure how much more Pi I can take.

A crowded loft and a cool murder (the hook through the body was pretty awesome) drove Castle back to the 12th. And can I say, thank God! It's only been two episodes but I've really missed the precinct and Esposito and Ryan. It was great to have them back in the mix.

Ryan's love of Too Cool For School just added to the fun as he did his best to defend the cheesy sitcom and Esposito was right there to mock him, as any good partner should under such circumstances.

Although I didn't mind the addition of Detective Sullivan, it was kind of painful to see what he'd done to Beckett's desk. Her cute little elephants would have been lost in a sea of trash and fast food. But it was nice that he knew of the famous Detective Beckett and respected her work and that she was willing to step aside and admit the desk was no longer hers. My guess is that magnanimous gesture may come back to haunt her in the near future.

Speaking of Beckett, she looked honestly uncomfortable being on the Fed side of things and taking over the case. She always hated it when that happened to her in the past. Now she was the bad guy in the eyes of her team.

Everyone got territorial and even who could share in a cup of coffee came into question…

Esposito: We are not serving them coffee. You bought this espresso machine for the NYPD. This is NYPD coffee only. | permalink

The case had some unique twists and turns as the death of an actor turned out to be the murder of an undercover informant trying to take down a Russian gangster for the CIA. One of my favorite moments was when Beckett and Esposito compared notes on how they all ended up at the warehouse…

I couldn't get over how proud Javier looked when he told her chicken poop. I also loved when Castle balked at pushing his boundaries with his now fiance Agent Beckett...

Ryan: Castle, your whole relationship is built on the foundation of your boundary pushing. Castle: Good point. | permalink

How true. Basically the entire premise of the show has been Castle pushing his limits.

And did I hear that correctly? Did Heat Wave the movie go straight to DVD?!? That's so wrong? But I suppose that's a way of explaining why we never saw an episode highlighting the movie premiere. Overall it feels like quite the lost opportunity for a great show.

Back to the case, and Agent Beckett. Throughout, it was easy to see Kate's doubts over her new job. She took the job believing she could do more. That if she were solving cases on such a large stage that the results would be even more satisfying. On the surface that made sense. Handling issues of national security could mean saving hundreds if not thousands of lives.

Unfortunately, she was finding out that solving cases on such a grand scale sometimes meant overlooking certain details…like one victim, or one murderer. For a woman who always put getting justice for the victims and their families as her top priority, that was a reality that was hard to swallow.

As Capt. Gates told McCord about murder victim Charlie Reynolds…

Capt. Gates: He may not have had a grieving mother or a wife waiting for him but his killer should not go unpunished. | permalink

And that injustice led Beckett to break the rules, more than once. She snuck information to the boys so that they could find the killer and then leaked Svetlana's name to the press so the CIA couldn't use her. Even I was a little shocked that Beckett would break the rules of her job so blatantly, despite her personal beliefs.

Back at the loft I was thrilled that we got another cozy Caskett moment. There can't be enough of those to keep me happy.

The moment Castle turned serious and began to talk about how their long distance relationship wasn't working you could see the fear cloud Kate's face. It looked like she was afraid he was about to break off their engagement. Her expression clearly said she feared the worst.

As did her complete joy and relief when Rick offered her that key to their new place in D.C. where they could live together. I'm surprised it took him so long to reach that decision. Have we ever seen Kate Beckett look happier? And then we got the surprise twist.

I honestly thought Beckett would reach the conclusion that this job wasn't for her. That if she had to bend the rules to feel justice was done that being Agent Beckett was the wrong decision.

Instead McCord showed up to tell her she'd been fired.

As much as I would have liked Kate to have made the decision herself, this might be even better. I doubt Kate Beckett has ever been fired from anything. This could really send her reeling which might be fun to watch…at least for a while.

Will Gates make her grovel to get her job back? Will the boys haze her for leaving in the first place? Will the overcrowded conditions at Castle's loft drive everyone over the edge if Kate now moves in? And when the heck will we see Lanie this season?

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wow 7 people read my article on my google blog in the first minute! and one person after linked from my tumblr blog. There are heaps of Castle fans out there and plenty in Russia! I agree with others on Caskett chemistry and it is about time ( more of it I say)but why oh why were they sooo stupid about the DC job?

for anyone interested I write today about a debate on the virtues of Andrew Marlowe on both my blogs ( Google and Tumblr). I an essentially replying to the lovely lady's answer to Captain Cook's very good question. I link her answer so judge for yourselves. Just on alexis. i know of very few 'resosible' teenages who suddenly go 'bad' at 19. It is the irresponsible ones that are already 'bad' that go that way. Her behaviour is over the top and to be frank I do find alexis boring these days. Her value to the show ended around Series 4. I am wondering did anyone else find Beckett boring without Castle around like I did?

To PHXcowbot, "What I want next is for Pi to get caught stealing fruit from a vendor, getting chased down the street, and then run over by a food truck selling Cornish pastys - meat pies." -I can't stop laughing. Brilliant. :)

Stana said "Beckett has core values that are focused on bringing the bad guy to justice. I don't think she can work against that. So, because she is who she is, she has to make sure that the victim is safe and that the bad people get put away." In Slimington DC there are always political considerations and 'big picture' reasons why you can not always do the right thing - I always knew beckett would run up against that wall - the whole purpose of this DC story arc was to solidify the Caskett relationship. The writers know that this show has great legs, and can continue for a long time; this was a turning point in the life of the series and the characters.

David•October 08, 2013 20:48

Well to be fair any good cop knows what it should be like working with the feds. If they don't then they haven't researched the job properly.Good to see the fed arc over. Interesting to note Katics comment. If she doesn't take the job she's a loser and then she gets FIRED!! Had me laffing my butt off. Did anyone get Alexis's little, "I'm Miss innocent" smirk at her father when they were making juices?19 years old and bringing guys home to stay for days, knowing Daddy doesn't like it shows complete disrespect, Rick needs to clean house. ASAP.

I enjoyed 6x3 for the most part. The banter between KB and RC was great. The way these two are interacting right now presents for an early wedding. The scene with KB and RC and the coffee bribe gave away the ending for me. Kate was in a joyous mood with Castle around and Kate only showed concern about the job during moments where the viewers were able to watch her body language. There was no way that she was going to resign during the episode. It was strange that Kate wouldnâ€™t talk to anybody at the precinct about what she was feeling. The ending would have been much more credible if she had discussed her doubts about the job with Gates at some point during the case. I felt that she was going to get fired, but the conclusion was so abrupt that I was still surprised how it ended. On the couch with Castle, Kate was still prepared to go back to DC knowing how the feds operate. Now that the â€˜federal arcâ€™ is over, the McCord character did not really present to me as mentor to Kate.

Daren•October 08, 2013 20:10

I think Castle needs to clean out the loft. PI has to go and Alexis needs to growup. Bringing home someone home to get your dads attention is childish. She is mad because Beckett is becoming first in her dads life and she wants to act out to get his attention back. Castle needs to tell her they are in love and getting married and Alexis needs to go find her a life without dad so much. First murder case in NY and no Lanie I was very upset we didn't see her.

Pete, Fair enough! I concede. From a professional standpoint, Beckett taking the job was the right now. It was a mistake, even outside of her relationship with Castle. That's been made clear in the last two episodes. However, you're right in that it made no sense when it comes to her relationship with Castle. Alan, It remains to be seen whether it was screenwriting miscalculation or part of a larger play on Marlowe's part. If Beckett gets back to her old job (or something similar), and her DC stint is never spoken about again in Season 6, then we can chalk it down as screenwriting miscalculation which the writers would soon forget. But as someone said, Beckett's never been fired from anything before. If her getting fired affects the dynamics of her relationships with those close to her or her returning from being a fed back down to being a cop affects her attitude etc., then it was probably intended on the writers part. We'll know soon enough anyways. Next week looks like a more serious episode. At least, the writer's vest is back.